Vietnam's sand dune coast — red dunes, fairy stream, and the world's freshest bánh mì
Mui Ne is a narrow sand-spit peninsula on Vietnam's southern coast that defies every expectation: red and white sand dunes that rival the Sahara in scale, a Cham fishing village where boats painted in the traditional eye pattern still depart before dawn, and a fairy stream (Suoi Tien) where you wade ankle-deep through rust-coloured canyon formations past cashew orchards. The wind makes it one of Southeast Asia's best kitesurfing spots — the same trade winds that blow the dunes also power a constant parade of coloured kites along the 10km beach road.
Mui Ne was a small Cham fishing community for centuries before French colonists built a railway station at nearby Phan Thiet in the 1900s, which gradually connected the coast to Saigon. The area remained largely undeveloped until a solar eclipse in 1995 drew thousands of scientists and tourists to witness totality from the dune coast — many stayed, and the resort strip that followed transformed Mui Ne into Vietnam's first purpose-built beach destination. The red dunes (Bau Trang) and white dunes (Bau Sen) are both moving features: they advance several metres per year, slowly burying the cashe…